いにしへの野中の清水ぬるけれど
本の心を知る人ぞ汲む
本の心を知る人ぞ汲む
- Roma-ji
-
Inishie no nonaka no shimizu nurukeredo moto no kokoro o shiru hito zo kumu
- English Translation
-
The clear spring
in the midst of the old fields
has grown lukewarm,
yet those who know its first heart
still come to draw from it.
- Meaning
- The clear spring in the fields of old has grown lukewarm, yet those who know its original heart still come to draw from it.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 887
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The spring in the fields, once cool and pure, has now grown lukewarm, but those who knew it as it was still draw from it. It is a figure for how those who knew something in its prime go on cherishing it even after it has faded. The author is unknown.
The Nonaka spring is said to have been in Inamino in Harima, a poetic place, and from this poem the phrase came to mean an old friend or a former lover.
First line "inishie no" means "of old," suggesting the time of its prime. The next poem, 888, begins with the same line, linking the two.
Second line "nonaka no shimizu" is the clear spring welling in the fields, known as a poetic place.
Third line "nurukeredo" admits with the adversative do that the water is now lukewarm.
Fourth line "moto no kokoro o" uses the same phrase as "moto no kokoro wa" in the preceding poem, 886, overlaying the spring's true nature and the heart of old.
Fifth line "shiru hito zo kumu" closes zo with the attributive kumu.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Isonokami furukara ono no motogashiwa moto no kokoro wa wasurarenaku ni
- Next Poem
-
Inishie no shizu no odamaki iyashiki mo yoki mo sakari wa arishi mono nari